The Dark Knight Rises Trivia
Trivia about The Dark Knight Rises. *Christopher Nolan is the first director to complete a full trilogy of Batman films, but the second to direct a full trilogy of films on one superhero (after Sam Raimi completed his Spider-Man films). *Christian Bale is the first live action actor to portray Batman/Bruce Wayne in three Batman films. Kevin Conroy has played the character in seven animated films as of 2011 (including Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker). *Cinematographer Wally Pfister has expressed interest in shooting the entirety of the film in the IMAX format, as both Pfister and Christopher Nolan have expressed distaste for shooting the film in 3-D. Ultimately, the film would feature approximately 50 minutes of IMAX footage, while the rest was shot in a combination of 35mm and 70mm, as IMAX cameras proved to be too noisy for shooting the films dialogue scenes. *Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Jessica Biel, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Vera Farmiga, Gemma Arterton, Abbie Cornish, Eva Green, Kate Mara, Blake Lively, Charlotte Riley, Olivia Wilde and Keira Knightley all auditioned for the role of Selina Kyle. After the initial audition process, Green, Biel and Knightley all screen tested. Ultimately, Anne Hathaway won the role. *Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz and Marion Cotillard were considered to play Miranda Tate before Cotillard finally got the role. Cotillard started filming 2 months after she gave birth to her son, Marcel. *Robin Williams was rumored to play the role of Hugo Strange. *There was much speculation in the press when Anne Hathaway was announced as Selina Kyle if the actress would actually portray Kyle's costumed alter-ego, Catwoman. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey following her stint as host of the Academy Awards, Hathaway let slip that her character indeed would don the Catwoman costume. *According to Gary Oldman, Christopher Nolan told the actors the ending of the film verbally to avoid any leaks. *One of the reasons why Christopher Nolan cast Tom Hardy as Bane was because of his performance in the film RocknRolla. Hardy stated that he thought he was cast because of his role in Bronson. He arrived on set only to learn that Nolan has never even seen Bronson. *Around 10,000 extras were used to shoot the Gotham Rogues scene in Heinz Field. Some of the Pittsburgh Steelers played football players, including Hines Ward, who played himself. *Chloë Grace Moretz and Jennifer Lawrence auditioned for Juno Temple's role. *According to The Hollywood Reporter, Anne Hathaway's stunt double broke one of the IMAX cameras when she crashed the Batpod into it. This marks the second time an IMAX camera has been destroyed on a Christopher Nolan Batman film - a previous camera was smashed when filming the Joker's underground truck chase in The Dark Knight. *Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Leonardo DiCaprio , James Holzier, Ryan Gosling, and Mark Ruffalo were considered to play John Blake. Gordon-Levitt was ultimately cast. *Anne Hathaway, who plays Catwoman, had been cast as Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) in The Amazing Spider-Man in 2010, which at that time was under Sam Raimi's direction as "Spider-Man 4" and was going to feature the Vulture and Black Cat. *The character of Bane in this film is more reverent and closer to his comic-book counterpart, unlike Batman & Robin, which reduced him to a mindless henchman. In the comic Books, Bane is a general, a strategist and a one-man army, literally forcing Batman to meet his match (and upon their first encounter it would turn out to be the case). *According to Christopher Nolan, Bane was chosen as the film's main antagonist "to test Batman mentally as well as physically." *To prepare for her role as Catwoman, Anne Hathaway worked out five days a week on a regime that involved vigorous exercise, stunt training and dancing. She called it her most physically demanding role to date. *To prepare for his role as Bane, Tom Hardy gained 30 pounds in weight, and studied various fighting styles to use in the film. *Tom Hardy described Bane as an absolute terrorist: "He's brutal, but also incredibly clinical in the fact that he has a result-based and oriented fighting style. The style is heavy-handed, heavy-footed... it's nasty. It's not about fighting, it's about carnage!" *After The Dark Knight was released, Aaron Eckhart expressed interest in returning as Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, as the film had left his role relatively open-ended. Christopher Nolan stated that Dent was definitely dead, and that his death would leave lasting repercussions across Gotham. *Composer Hans Zimmer collected online recordings of chanting to incorporate in the film's score. *Anne Hathaway previously appeared in Alice in Wonderland, which was directed by Batman/Batman Returns director Tim Burton and featured the previous Alfred, Michael Gough in his final role before his death. *Marion Cotillard previously appeared in Big Fish, which was directed by Batman/Batman Returns director Tim Burton. Danny DeVito played The Penguin in Batman Returns which, like this film, also features Catwoman. *Reunites Inception stars Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, and Cillian Murphy. *Like Batman Returns and Batman & Robin, not only does this feature a female villain, but the villain is portrayed by an Oscar nominated actress. Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns) was nominated for Dangerous Liaisons, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Love Field. Uma Thurman (Batman & Robin) was nominated for Pulp Fiction. Anne Hathaway (this film) was nominated for Rachel Getting Married. *This is the fifth film in a row that Christopher Nolan has worked with Michael Caine. The other films were Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, and Inception. *With their appearances in this movie, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Gary Oldman will have each appeared in three Batman movies. Only Michael Gough and Pat Hingle have done the same thing. *Christopher Nolan picked Bane as the main villain. Coincidentally, with no known relation, the name of one of the creators of Bane for the comic books is Graham Nolan. *Anne Hathaway based her performance on Hedy Lamarr, who was the original inspiration for Catwoman. *Tickets for the film's premiere midnight IMAX screenings in New York sold out six months in advance. *During the football sequence shown in the preview a player is seen wearing a jersey with the last name of Ravenstahl on it. Luke Ravenstahl is the Mayor of Pittsburgh where portions of the movie were shot. *Tom Hardy is technically the fifth actor to play Bane in a feature film. In Batman & Robin, Michael Reid MacKay played serial killer Antonio Diego, who is selected for the "Venom" experiment and is transformed into Bane, who is then played by wrestler Jeep Swenson. The remaining two actors voiced Bane in two Dc Animated direct-to-video films, and they were Hector Elizondo in Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman and Carlos Alazraqui in Justice League: Doom. *"The Dark Knight" took inspiration from comics "The Killing Joke" and "The Long Halloween." This sequel takes inspiration from the darker Batman comics as well: "Knightfall" and "No Man's Land," in which an earthquake hits Gotham City. *Anne Hathaway has revealed that during her audition, she thought that she was auditioning for Harley Quinn. it was only after she had a discussion with Christopher Nolan that she found out that she was auditioning for Catwoman. *Anne Hathaway has said that she desperately coveted the role of Catwoman, and was a complete nervous wreck after her audition. The first time her agent phoned after her screen test, he said he had good news and asked if Hathaway was sitting down. Hathaway immediately screamed "I'm Catwoman!" and ran around the room in a frenzy. Unfortunately, her agent had to calm the actress down--he had called to let her know that she'd been invited to host the Academy Awards. Hathaway has said she was so shocked she went numb at the offer. Fortunately, shortly thereafter, her agent phoned again to let her know that she had been offered the part of Catwoman as well. *Christopher Nolan said that the film's theme deals with "Pain" For Batman Begins, it was on "Fear", while The Dark Knight deals on "Chaos". *The original story treatment by David S. Goyer was to have Two-Face as the principle antagonist for the film. Initially, at the end of The Dark Knight, The Joker would have scarred Harvey Dent at a courtroom trial, setting up the third film. Dent's death and fall at the end of the second film was put in instead as setting up on the scenario of the relationship (being the backbone of the story) between him and Batman broken and in the aftermath that follows. *Tom Hardy accepted the role of Bane without reading the script. He was verbally told that he would have unprecedented access to extensive stunt training and equipment that he could enjoy knocking around. *Christopher Nolan offered James Newton Howard the opportunity to write the score with Hans Zimmer as he did for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight but Howard felt that due to the collaboration between Nolan and Zimmer on Inception, he would be like a third wheel. *According to producer Emma Thomas, the filmmakers elected to shoot the film in Pittsburgh to emphasize Gotham's immense size and scope and because "they have literally shot every inch" in Chicago, where the previous two films were shot. *Selina Kyle is never referred to as her famous alter ego "Catwoman" during the movie. However, various official merchandise and marketing material refer to Selina Kyle as Catwoman when she is wearing her masked costume. *Out of respect for Heath Ledger, the Joker is never once mentioned for the whole film. *At 165 minutes long, this is the longest Batman film released to date as well as the longest film that Christopher Nolan has ever directed. *Christopher Nolan wanted Marion Cotillard so much for the role of Miranda Tate that he modified the filming schedule to accommodate her pregnancy. Cotillard started filming two months after giving birth. *Tom Hardy based his voice for Bane on Bartley Gorman (1944 - 2002), an Irish Traveller who was the undefeated Bare-knuckle boxing champion of the United Kingdom and Ireland, often referred to as the, "King of the Gypsies." He told The Hollywood Reporter, "The choice of the accent is actually a man called Bartley Gorman, who was a bare knuckle fighter. A Romani gypsy. Which I wanted to underpin the Latin, but a Romani Latin opposed to Latino. His particular accent is very specific, which was a gypsy accent. So that's why it was difficult to understand. But once you tune into it, you get it. I hope." *In a Saturday Night Live sketch, Anne Hathaway, who plays Selena Kyle on this film, appeared as Katie Holmes talking on a talk show about her role in Batman Begins, the first film of this trilogy. *When Batman is chasing after Bane for the first time after the stock exchange robbery an older policeman tells his younger partner to "sit back, you're in for a show". This is an almost direct quote from the graphic novel Batman: Year One. *Christian Bale has stated that he would not play Batman if Robin appeared anywhere in the trilogy. Christopher Nolan agreed not to include Robin as it would undermine the dark tone of his series. At the end of the film, Detective John Blake's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) legal name is revealed to be "Robin", and he quits the police force to join Batman at the Batcave. *In the comics, Bane carried an apparatus that contains a steroid that amplifies his strength and fighting ability. In the film, the apparatus he carries contains an anesthetic as he is in constant chronic pain. *The filmmakers cite the "Batman" comics 'The Dark Knight Returns' (an aged Batman operates in a future Gotham), 'Knightfall' (Bane pushes Batman physically and mentally, causing him to burn out) and 'No Man's Land' (Gotham descends into gangland territory) as major influences on the film. *Leilah de Meza turned down the role of young Talia Al Ghul. *When Commissioner Gordon talks about "giant alligators" being in the sewer line, this may be an intentional nod towards Batman villain Killer Croc. Category:The Dark Knight Rises Category:Trivia